Nobody in our town's theater community could have more respect for Christian O'Shaughnessy, with whom I've had the pleasure to work, Ashley Crockett, my theater pal of many productions, and others of this fine cast and crew who have given themselves so professionally to this project. But there has come a time in my life, like now, where the heat and fires of my once young self have cooled. And now, I do not need nor want to be "...led on a spree of choreographed violence." I will give this production a miss, not for any lack of respect for those involved, but to find fewer assaults on my senses of horror, violence, and anarchy.

Get off Verhoven's ****! The originals, while I loved them too, are terrible films. They were filled with unforgivably bad acting, excessive violence and as much pointless action as any modern cash-grab. They would have been better had they NOT been satire. When I think back to the originals, I don't think "that was a great satire film" I think, that was a fun action movie I liked as a kid that I am now embarrassed to be caught watching now.

The new movie chooses not to make a bad joke out of the story of a man struggling to maintain/reclaim his humanity after being turned into a cyborg cop by a greedy corporation and still manages to be an awesome but more intelligent action movie.

Terrible art show. I saw this crap last Sat because I wrongly assumed that your article had separated the wheat from the chaff event-wise. Aspire to being Westword at the very least, for everyone's sake. Focus your coverage on the good art shows in town, please.

We can alway comment on the negative. Regardless if he was a saint or not. .right is right and wrong is wrong. Sometimes I feel the people that make silly comments as above no not actually know what it feel like to go through some type of discrimination. Your imagination can take you places that you never imagined going...so take a moment and just imagine the shoes being on the other foot...

Kirsten, thanks for the update. I stand corrected. Glad they're still here.
I went to their website yesterday and it had the word "CLOSED" across the top.
Today their website has the word "OPEN" across the top.

I knew I would find one of these condescending ass articles... It never fails when a Black Male is murdered... Like Michael B. Jordan said... Black Men are Americas Pit bulls... White folks are so fucking pathetic...

I'm a liberal, a minority, and a feminist---and I loved the movie. The female character in the film who is "treated like a prey animal" according to the reviewer, was NOT "annoying but harmless." Lucy (not Gru) shoots her with a dart because the woman was about to pull Gru's hairpiece off in front of an entire restaurant. It was a bit of comedy and it would be a fair bit of exaggeration to call this evidence of some sexist worldview.

I can't comment on the main body of this review since I haven't seen this show, but I am uniquely qualified to comment on the last paragraph. I'm the communications director at our town's largest performing arts organization. The administrative folks at TheatreWorks are probably too polite to respond, so I'll attempt to offer a thought here.

The entire business of theatre, and indeed, performing arts in general, is based on a public-private partnership, wherein sponsors provide support in order to make the cost of tickets more accessible and make the art produced on the stage possible. Disparaging TheatreWorks' method of recognizing that sponsorship (and possibly causing the sponsor to feel alienated) demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the performance arts industry and the sources of funding for our efforts. Like it or not, both corporate and individual sponsors play a vital role in the quality, frequency, and accessibility of arts throughout the United States. This is particularly true in Colorado Springs, where public funding is extremely limited. Using this public forum as an artistic reviewer to complain about that system is highly questionable since administrative decisions don't usually fall within the scope of a critic's responsibility.

There is a point at which sponsor recognition can be overbearing and obtrusive, but it's difficult to imagine a scenario in which TheatreWorks, with their artistic sensibilities, would be prone to that level of promotion for the sponsor.

Finally, I'll just mention that it's especially odd to have that final paragraph, given that this very publication, the Independent, is a primary supporter of arts throughout our region, including TheatreWorks. I can imagine that the Indy genuinely appreciates the recognition that it receives for its support of the performing arts, and it's perplexing that you would disparage TheatreWorks' efforts in this regard.

Just about all of the big movies of the 40s were also performed on the radio by the starring actors, often introduced by the movies' directors. If a movie turned into a hit it was performed again using other actors in the lead roles. The radio plays never ran more than an hour, so material was always cut. There was more than one version of The Maltese Falcon broadcast over the airwaves, including a version that runs only 30 minutes long.

The production isn't trying to rival the movie. What theatrical production could?? A radio production of this was performed the year the movie came out; Stewart and Reed both reprised their roles in said broadcast. Do you think THAT production rivaled the movie? That's not the purpose. It's to use the radio genre to give a different twist to the story. Both can be enjoyed without detracting from either's merits. Different isn't bad, it's just different.

What a load! ^^^^ Let me set everyone straight. if you loved Indiana Jones, you'll love The Lone Ranger. We laughed throughout the film and came away thinking it a shame that people weren't seeing it because of untrue, nasty reviews. this could have been a wonderful start to a series of Lone Ranger movies. Go see it people.

While I think that the shooting of Oscar Grant was awful and caused by extreme negligence by all of the officers involved, the story could have been told at least as powerfully if the director and screenwriters had been willing to be both factually and intellectually honest regarding who Grant actually was and how he lived his life.

Plainly and simply, the filmaking team chose to make Grant more saintly than he actually was to force the audience to their viewpoint, instead of letting us make up our own minds. The director's use of provocative tropes was not only dishonest at its core, but also lousy filmaking. Had Coogler been true to both the story and his subject, he could have created a film that made a difference. Instead, I suspect that most of us will forget the film once the manipulation has leached from our systems.

Are all the spots taken for this Saturday? I'm organizing the Colorado Springs leg of a Cultural Tour of Tibetan Monks coming to town Sept. 9 - 14th. Would like to know if this might be a good way to get the word out about their events (sand mandala, meditation, talks, cultural pageant, prayer stone workshop)?